Winter Living Room Tour

Well I've un-decked the halls for what I call "phase one" of transitioning from Christmas into winter. I find it too depressing to remove all traces of Christmas at one time, and since many decorations can work well for winter decor, I leave a few things out through Valentine's Day. Once again I missed an opportunity to participate in the blog open house tours, but I thought I'd invite you in on this blustery, snowy KY morning. 

Welcome!

This spot on the couch is my favorite way to wake up and start my morning right in front of the fireplace while watching deer out my front window. This morning it's the cardinals who are entertaining me while the snow gently falls.

 We love our home but it doesn't photograph well due to lighting. The snow gave me a bit more light than usual so I started snapping.

In contrast to our previous home with all whites and feminine shabby decor, this house is much more masculine and rich with lots of dark, original woodwork. And even though it is quite larger than our last cottage, it is extremely warm and cozy.

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 I adore this bookshelf which belonged to my great, great Grandfather. It's had a recent makeover with chalk paint and no one can believe it's almost 100 years old. Standing beside is my favorite Santa who I think of as "Old Man Winter" after Christmas to give me a bit more time to enjoy him.

My adopted garden deer statue, old tarnished trophies and chalkboard vignette is out all year but it works especially well for winter.

The deer urn is one of my favorite yard sale finds. 

My mantel is decorated with an assortment of antique frames and mirrors as a permanent display, so I just change it up through the seasons for interest by adding little things. My bronze horse, a wintry German Santa and a vintage postcard of children playing in the snow are my early January touches. 

I haven't done many posts on this house yet. We just had our one year anniversary of living here and all the decor just started coming together in late fall, so this may be the first tour for some of my readers, and some may be surprised that I chose such bold wall color. Our living room color was chosen after researching period accurate colors for mid-1920's homes. So different from the neutral grays and greiges that are popular right now. I originally tried out several trendy colors but they did nothing for the house. I actually had to hand mix a few colors to get the color to look exactly like the historic color I wanted and it was the right choice for this house, it truly came alive with a historic feel once the walls were painted and I love how my shabby peices pop.

This old buffet is my favorite statement piece. Actually it's my favorite piece. I can't believe I've never posted about it before, but I digress. This year I displayed my German Belsnickles for Christmas along with vintage tinsel and shiny Brite ornaments in the garland but I replaced them with the large snowballs for winter and decided to keep the Santas out a bit longer.

Icicle ornaments, silver Mercury beads, woodsy greenery, rusty bells and rustic antlers evoke a winter feeling.

Love these sweet vintage deer wishing us all a Happy New Year!

One of my favorite gifts this year is this hand carved gnome door that my father-in-law made. Intended for outside but for now it makes a lovely addition to my winter woodland scene.

I also keep my greenery on the banister for winter. I just remove the ribbons and bulbs and anything that is too Christmasy. An old sled and skates are quintessential winter props in any vintage junk decorator's home.

On the other side of the staircase is our office which I will show you in an upcoming post. My blogger app is acting up so this seems like a good place to stop for now. I hope you enjoyed the living room tour today! You can see a bit more of what we've done in other rooms in previous posts. I hope you'll check them out. Not only did I use a bold wall color in my living room, but I also used wallpaper in my dining room. No regrets!

Come back and visit soon!

Amber

Parties:

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/2016/01/whats-it-wednesday-199.html?m=1

http://www.adelightsomelife.com/2016/01/home-and-garden-thursday-131.html#comments

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2016/01/share-your-cup-thursday-180.html?m=1

http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/2016/01/wow-us-wednesdays-256.html?m=1

http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/2016/01/feathered-nest-friday_14.html?m=1